'777- fame office to the corpfe of another perfon of inferior rank,.
«—ly l i ./ and was now under the fame reftriition; but not for fo
long a time. At another place, hard by, we faw another
woman fed ; and we learnt, that ihe had alfifted in waihing
the corpfe of the above-mentioned Chief.
Saturday zi. Early the next morning, the king came on board, to invite
me to an entertainment, which he propofed to give the
fame day. He had already been under the barber’s hands y
his liead being all befmeared with red pigment, in order
to redden his hair, which was naturally of a dark brown
colour. After breakfaft, I attended him to the ihore.; artd
we found his people very bufy, in two places, in the front
of our area, fixing, in an upright and fquare pofition,
thus t o o l ’ f °ur very long polls, 'pear two feet from each
other. The fpace between the polls was afterward filled
up with yams ; and as they went on filling it, they fattened
pieces o f flicks acrofs, from poll to poll, at the diftance of
about every four fee t; to prevent the polls from feparating,
by the weight of the inclofed yams, and alfo to get up
by. When the yams had reached the top of the firft polls,
they fattened others to them, and fo continued till each
pile was the height of thirty feet, or upward. On the
top of one, they placed two baked hogs ; and on the top of
the other, a living one •, and another they tied by the legs,
half-way up. It was matter of curiofity to obferve, with
what facility and difpatch thefe two piles were raifed. Had
our feamen been ordered to execute fuch a work, they
would have fworn that it could not be performed without
carpenters; and the carpenters would have called to
their aid a dozen different forts of tools, and have expended,
at leaft, a hundred weight of nails; and, after all,
it would have employed them as many days, as it did,
i ' thefe
thefe people hours. But feamen; like 1 1 * mo1 lto thera Jamne.phibious
animals, are always the molt helplefs on land. After >-—.—
they had completed thefe two piles, they made feveral
other heaps of yams and bread-fruit on each fide of the
area ; to which were added a turtle, and a large quantity o f
excellent filh. All this, with a piece of cloth, a mat, and
fome red feathers, was the king’s prefent to me; and he
feemed to picque himfelf on exceeding, as he really did,
Feenou’s liberality, which I experienced at Hapaee.
About one o’clock they began the tnai, or dances ; the firft-
of which was almoft a copy of .the firft that was exhibited at
Mareewagee’s entertainment. The fecond was conducted-
by Captain Furneaux’s Toobou, who, as we mentioned,' had
alfo danced there; and in this, four or five women were introduced,
who went through the feveral parts with as much
exaftnefs as the men. Toward the end, the performers divided
to leave room for two champions, who exercifed their
dubs, as defcribed on a former occafion. And, in the third
¡dance, which was the laft now prefented, two more men,
with their clubs, difplayed their dexterity. The dances
were fucceeded by wreftling and boxing; and one man entered
the lifts with a fort of club, made from the item of a
cocoa-leaf, which is firm and heavy; but could find no an-
tagonift to engage him at fo rough a fport. At night we
had the bomai repeated; in which Poulaho himfelf danced,
drefled in Englilh manufacture. But neither thefe, nor the
dances in the day-time, were fo confiderable, nor carried
on with fo much fpirit, as Feenou’s, or Mareewagee’s ; and,
therefore, there is lefs occafion to be more particular in our
defcription of them.
In order to be prefent the whole time, I dined aihore.
The king fat down with us -;- but he neither eat nor drank.
R r 2 I found